I’m importing boundaries in Croatia, and I’m almost done. So I wanted to describe my process so that someone else maybe doesn’t have to rediscover this process. Maybe there is a better one, but I didn’t find it.

Croatia in OpenStreetMap had admin_level=7 borders imported, but the borders were not precise. So my job was to import admin_level=8 into these. I had the data in .osm format, and a license that is compatible. I wanted to keep the history of the old boundaries, so deleting everything and just copying inside wasn’t a choice.

First we need JOSM, and some experience with it. We turn on the Expert Mode in View. We need to install the plugin “utilsplugin2”. Then we go to Map Paint Styles in Preferences, and turn on the “Admin Boundaries” style.

So the process goes like this. In JOSM I open the .osm file with all the admin_level=8 boundaries. Then I download the area where I intend to work, but I use “Download from Overpass API” feature. In it I add the next Overpass query:

[out:xml][timeout:90][bbox:{{bbox}}];
(
relation["boundary"="administrative"];
)-> .adminrelations;
(  .adminrelations;
  way(r);
) -> .ways;
(
  node(w.ways);
)-> .nodes;

way(bn.nodes);
(._;<;); (._;>;);
out meta;

What this query does is it downloads all the boundary relations, and all the ways that are connected to them.

1. Disconnecting

Next step I did was to disconnect all the roads, forests, rivers and anything that is not a boundary from the existing boundaries. I upload that, and later download a cleaner situation.

2. Splitting

… Vollständigen Blogeintrag anzeigen

In collaboration with bus drivers and bus enthusiasts from www.autobusi.org I drew 100% of bus routes in and around Rijeka.

The process looked like this: I would take the starting and ending point of the route and try to create the route. Then I would take the link with the relation and give it to them for revision. They would say where I was wrong, and I would fix it. And again, and again. Some 40 routes, more or less.

Stations are a big problem, and they are not yet drawn. I gave them openstreetbugs so they can pin them on the map, and we'll see how much of them they will put on there.

New imagery
Hi from croatia mappers!
The U.S. Geological Survey has made public maps of the whole Ex Yugoslavia under the Public Domain license, which means we can use them in the Openstreetmap project. List of maps in pdf format here:
https://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/former_yugoslavia/
Unfortunately, not all maps are scanned, the yellow areas are available:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/former_yugoslavia/index_map.jpg
Our member dodobas geocoded the maps and we put them on the server maintained by user hbogner on the Faculty of Geodesy in Zagreb.
We are inviting you to use the imagery to fill the Openstreetmap with as much usefull data possible!
I suggest you use the tag source=U.S. Defense Mapping Agency for the elements drawn over these backgrounds so we can easily find what is drawn with these maps.
How to use them?
In JOSM:
Go to Edit > Preferences... > WMS TMS > + (Plus sign lower right) > TMS
Menu name= USGS osm-hr
TMS URL = http://tms.osm-hr.org/1.0.0/all_ustopo/{zoom}/{x}/{y}.png
Screenshot: http://osm-hr.org/josm.png
In Potlatch:
Go to Background > Edit...
Make a new line:
Name= USGS osm-hr
URL= http://tms.osm-hr.org/1.0.0/all_ustopo/$z/$x/$y.png
Screenshot: http://osm-hr.org/potlach.jpg
If there are any problems, contact us!
http://osm-hr.org/
P.S. Watch out for bad data that is going to be erased because of the license change on April 1. More about that on the page about Remapping:
osm.wiki/Remapping

-----In Croatian----

… Vollständigen Blogeintrag anzeigen